West Brom 2-2 Liverpool report - 'Moore restores pride'

If West Brom had been 2-0 down to Liverpool with just over 10 minutes to play under Alan Pardew then you would have trudged off knowing it was over.

To be honest, if you were 1-0 down with 85 minutes to play against anybody under Pardew you would have known it was over, but this is not the case anymore.

James Richards

21st Apr 2018

The Baggies are not the walkover they once were and now, under our caretaker manager, anything seems possible. Darren Moore has got the team playing again, even if these positive results are tinged with sadness knowing that they have come too late to save us.

Beating Manchester United was great but Liverpool are a different prospect altogether. I feared the worst heading into this one, especially from Liverpool’s ‘fab three’. Mohamed Salah has been very impressive and Chelsea fans must be pulling their hair out knowing he was allowed to leave by a certain Jose Mourinho.

It is not the first time that the former Chelsea boss has let talent leave only to realise that he might have acted too soon. To think that Chelsea also had a certain Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku before the so-called ‘Special One’ gave them the heave-ho.

It was an awful start for the Baggies as Danny Ings, a player we were linked with in January, tucked the ball home just four minutes in. Rather than the flood gates opening we actually got stuck in and made a game of it with a couple of good spells before half time. Jay Rodriguez in particular was impressive.

After the break Salah made it 2-0 with a sublime finish, his 31st in the top flight this season, and that appeared to be that - only it wasn’t.

Jake Livermore grabbed a goal from close range and then with two minutes left Salomon Rondon grabbed a deserved equaliser with a header from a Chris Brunt free-kick. Unbelievable stuff, but a win was a must and we came up short.

Too little too late

West Brom are finally showing what they are capable of, but it has all come too late. Yet more evidence that the club should have got rid of Pardew earlier when it was clear things just were not working. In fact, hindsight being a wonderful thing, he was clearly the wrong choice in the first place.

Pride restored

Despite the fact that we are doomed to relegation it has been nice to see the team playing with a bit of pride again, especially after some abject performances in the Pardew reign. Moore has been able to get the best out of players such as Livermore (he bagged his first goal for the club on his 50th appearance!) and also Matt Phillips played a blinder.

Some positivity for next season

All this will at least allow us to head into next season with a bit of positivity. Considering where we were a couple of games ago it has been nice to see the turnaround in both effort and endeavour that Moore has brought with him. Hopefully we can keep a few key players and build a decent team ready for life in the Championship.